Driving Question: What are the unique properties of a meal/dish from my culture and how can I share that with the world?

Project Description: This module was about exploring my culture and highlighting our unique characteristics. They could be from language or family to religion and traditions. I was looking for a dish that is important to me and represents a big part of my culture. My final product for the project is a video explaining the importance of my dish, pan de muerto, and how to do it step by step.

Project Reflection: “I enjoyed learned about my culture and the origin of many of my traditions. Baking pan de muerto and recording the process was challenging and exciting at the same time. I learned how to communicate in a simple and interesting way.” -Marily

Driving Question: How can I address some of the present threats to global health while promoting human rights and social progress?

Project Description: My project is a policy brief about the Malaria situation in Congo. It includes its nature and magnitude, the most affected populations, the socio-economic consequences, and the potential solution to reduce the burden. The policy aims to convince the finance Minister of Congo to invest in solutions for Malaria.

Project Reflection: “I enjoyed hearing from my peers how the health care systems function in different countries. A challenge was writing in the concise and precise way required for the policy brief.” -Sofia W.

Driving Question: How can I develop and combine a well-designed and written book which conveys, in a simple but significant way, part of someone’s TGS story and experiences, by the perspective of the others?

My final product: I created a book in which TGS community members (including alumni) share stories, moments and memories with Karen, Elyce and Jamie. We didn’t have the change to properly say goodbye, and show our appreciation. So, this is a way to convey our gratitude.

Driving Question: How might we collaboratively implement a design-thinking process to meet the needs of the community we serve?

Who was your target audience? Why?

Our target audience was the TGS community. We saw the impact that going online had on the community’s morale. Since there were not as many opportunities to connect with one another, so we decided to create such an opportunity.

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

We aimed to give an opportunity to the TGS community to connect with each other in a way that is fun and comfortable. We did this by hosting an open-ended discussion about controversial topics.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

Each one of us learned something different about ourselves.

What did this project mean to you?

This project gave us an opportunity to form more connections within the community. It was also our first time collaborating with people we hadn’t before, so this project also allow us to form bonds within our summative group.

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

In this module, I wanted to delve into the old East Asian Buddhist tradition of using art as a form of meditation, freeing the mind of its rational constraints and leading to samadhi or meditative awareness. I did this by both developing skills in calligraphy itself as well as attempting a form of meditation while practicing those skills and making the pieces above. The result, I hope, is some appearance of spontaneity and creativity, the two terms that anyone would use to describe the works of calligraphy that Buddhist monks in China, Japan, and Korea made while immersed in their happy, cheerful meditation.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

The most interesting thing that I learned while painting the Chinese characters was how challenging it is to attain any sort of balance or beauty with them. A simple downward brushstroke takes many months or perhaps years of practice to look even half-decent to a person who knows calligraphy. I did not get to this stage over the course of the project; what I did do was get a very brief look into the complexity of this medium – how the characters that you paint with the brush are not so much those that you paint but those that are left behind by the brush itself. Any stroke, whether it be a horizontal line or a dot, can very candidly suggest the calligrapher’s state of mind when painting it, meaning that any frustration or hesitance is immediately visible in the forms of the characters. This is perhaps the harshest aspect of calligraphy – each stroke is permanent and irrevocable, and cannot be embellished afterward. Not only does each brushstroke reveal your skill with the ink, but it will also reveal your ability to leave distracting thoughts behind and pool all of your mental energies into a single movement of the hand.

Poem Translation

The pieces above are renditions, in various styles of calligraphy, of three poems that I composed in a kind of bad Classical Chinese; the English translations are here:

Regular Style Poem

In the snore of my dog and the sound of my
Mother cooking dinner,
I hear Buddha’s joyful laugh;
Just as there are many drops of water but only one
Pond,
So are there many Buddhas but only one
Dharma.

Semi-Cursive Poem

Alone I walk to the pond,
Looking for solitary ducks to feed with my
Brown paper bag.

Cursive Poem

The perpetual sound of hail on the window –
Instead of my friends’ happy chatter,
Every day I hear only this.

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

My goals for the module were to increase my confidence in my creative abilities and be secure in my creative process. I achieved this by trying a variety of creative tools, like brainstorming and making mood boards. Through the process of being creative and learning how to weave, I slowly became confident in myself and in my final product.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

I learned that there is no one “correct” way to be creative. I also learned that it’s great to try new things and learn skills from a beginner standpoint, which is what I did with weaving. Through this, I let go of some of my fears about not being creative enough and just let myself learn, change, and grow without judgment of the process.

My Artist Statement

For my module summative, I chose to weave an abstract tapestry inspired by nature. As Covid-19 has placed almost everybody in the world in a quarantine situation, I noticed that in the news and on social media images of places around the world thriving with the lack of human interaction. Although the piece is abstract and open for interpretation, I wove it with the intention of conveying the natural beauty of the earth. I wanted to imitate the idea of a sunsetting, with the notion being that all of the mess with the coronavirus will eventually end, as every day eventually does. Additionally, I drew inspiration from two French artists and combined my module summative with my language project.

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

My goals were a mixture of self-discovery and creative growth. I wanted to learn how to trust my creative instincts while also trying to understand them. I let my creativity flow with this project and managed to map that out in some mind maps and drafts. I spent the term slowly building on this artwork, which was initially going to be a much softer floral piece, and I am super happy with what it has become. You can see my process/growth below.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

I learned a lot about the watercolor paints I was using. I practiced with them a lot and tried different techniques. I also learned that I come up with my best ideas when I’m not trying to come up with ideas, so I took breaks and made lunch or something when trying to come up with an idea. This is called ‘incubation time.’ My biggest takeaway is that I enjoy being creative, and I will continue to build on my artistic skills.

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

I wanted to create an epic song with the help of my friend, who is a singer. I achieved them by collaborating with my friend and his dad and learning how to use GarageBand. I made three different songs, but the last one is the actual song, the first 2 were practices. Currently, the song is still a work in progress, so I will aim to showcase it in the future.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

I learned that I could be creative with music and work well on a small team. Before, I thought I was not good at music production, but with this term, I became good at it. Also, my collaboration skills increased as well. I managed to get in contact with my friend and his dad and created a plan to record the song without me being there in person.

Driving Question: How might I grow my creativity during the COVID-19 crisis through exploring the science of creativity and innovation and experimenting with art?

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

The main goal for me was: By the end of this module, I will be paying a lot more attention to the creative process itself, instead of the final product. I have experimented with the creative process. I have successfully implemented the incubation period in my creative process. When I first thought of the script, I had several scenes I wanted to do. I distanced myself from my ideas, which increased my productivity. After a walk, I listed all of the thoughts I had and I was impressed by how my list increased beforehand and after the incubation. With the evaluation stage, I am feeling much more eager to share and discuss my ideas with peers, family, and others, and I accept critique as constructive feedback. I think this term was a breakthrough for me in terms of understanding creativity. I am now paying a lot more attention to the process itself rather than focusing on the final product. After experimenting with all stages of the creative process, I enjoyed doing it, and I feel I am much more productive.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

I feel that I have really grown in creativity and especially in the creative process. Before the module, I didn’t know that the usual things that I do when creating something have a scientific base behind them. This module helped to focus more on the process of creativity rather than on the final product. As for animation, I took a course on animation (Minecraft Animation), which helped to develop the main techniques such as lighting (Omni lights), animating (3D animating using Blender), interacting with the world (adding items, texture mapping), and rendering. I have successfully experimented with lighting, which looks great (according to feedback) and created a walk cycle, which is essential, and it can be used in future animations. I set up the characters, added skin, changed eye color, and so on.

Driving Question: How might I grow my creativity during the COVID-19 crisis through exploring the science of creativity and innovation and experimenting with art?

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

My goal for this module was to grow my creativity by learning more about my creative process through something that I like and that I’m passionate about, which is fashion. Through my process, I was intentional about exploring different things that affected my creativity, such as my environment, and in the end, I created sketches of five dresses each inspired by traditional Moroccan fashion and elements.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

This module allowed me to grow a lot creatively, especially when it comes to things I wasn’t necessarily confident in or didn’t have a lot of skills at. I feel like I’m a lot more comfortable experimenting and taking risks than I was before. I also learned a lot about sketching specifically. It was something very new for me, and there was a lot of trial and error before I managed to create the final product.